


Warmth

by shayera



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Brotherhood, Ficlet, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-23
Updated: 2009-09-23
Packaged: 2017-10-03 16:10:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shayera/pseuds/shayera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ficlet for the prompt "reunion". Luffy makes everything better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warmth

Ace had almost forgotten what it felt like to be warm.

Blackbeard's darkness stole the fire from his body weeks ago, and Impel Down drained what little warmth remained. Chained to that stone wall, with the weight of the ocean around him and the icy, heavy cuffs robbing him of his strength, he had learned what despair felt like. Learned to recognize its spirit-crushing cold.

On the execution platform, the fleet admiral tore out the last safe place in his soul, Ace's most desperate, unspeakable secret, and displayed it for the world to see.

For his stupidity, and the _crime of being born_, Ace would lose everything today. Would be responsible for every fallen friend and every drop of blood shed.

He grew colder still.

And yet, when Luffy wraps his impossible rubber arms around him – pulling Ace away from the platform, protecting him from the falling debris with his own body – something rekindles within Ace. His brother's body is warm and alive and _energizing_.

"You can be angry with me later!" Luffy says. "After I've kicked these people's asses and gotten you out of here, okay?"

Somehow, Ace is warm again.


End file.
